Picture puzzle device



J. J. KENNEDY.

PICTORIAL PUZZLE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25. 1920.

1,41 5,245. Patented May 9, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

I I i 26 z x l2 it INVENTOR 1.]. KENNEDY.

PICTORIAL PUZZLE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.26. 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

1 ,4 1 5,245 Patented May 9, 1922 III IIIIIII'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII mm 9%I N VEN TOR.

YES J. KENNEDY, OF NEW YO PICTURE PUZZLE DEVICE,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Picture-Puzzle Device,of which 'the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates generally to a class of devices commonly known aspicture puz The object of my invention is to provide a new andinteresting picture'game which consists in transforming a clear anddefinite pictorial representation of a landscape, exterior or interiorview, animal, bird, still life, people, etc. so as to present anentirely different picture.

The principle by which I obtain another and different representationfrom a single picture consists in screening or stopping from sight aportion of the aforesaid picture, the exposed part of which now shows,what before was unobserved, the whole form of an animal, bird, fish orother creature or, as the case may be, inanimate objects with all thenecessary delineations of character and drawing in light and shade toproduce to an observer a correct and finished picture in monotone ornatural colors.

In the screening process, the element employed may be of plates of wood,very thick paper, or ordinary cardboard of about threeply in thickness.The cardboard, which in size is the same as the picture it covers, has acut-out or mortise through its centre which is the exact duplicate, insize and form, of the animal concealed in the picture. Anessentialfeature of the objects of the puzzle device is the coveringmaterial, besides containing a mortise must also be cut into separate,interfitting sections.

The surface of this material may show a picture representing a scene, orsurroundings indigenous to the object so readily brought forth by themortise. When this is the case it may be said that we have a dissectedpicture; and when all the separate parts are properly fitted togetherover the first picture, covering all except the section shown throughthe mortise, it will be seen that another complete picture is theresult.

vI accomplish the object of my said invention in the manner illustratedin the accompanying drawings, which are made a part Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented May 9, 1922.

Application filed April 26, 1920. Serial No. 376,815.

hereof and on which like characters of reference denote like, orcorresponding parts, in which Figure 1 is a front view of the surfaceelement on which is provided a picture representing a scene in which isdelineated an object merged with the general pictorial scheme so thatthe configuration is concealed in a manner for practicing one form of myimproved puzzle device.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the puzzle when solved or completed, and whichshows the picture illustrated in Fig. 1 when transformed into anentirely different picture.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the surfac element with the pictureremoved.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the transformer or screen element used in thedevice, and which shows one of its forms divided into irregularsections, and

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

The device has a surface element 10 which may be of any suitable sizeand shape, though the form of the surface element shown is substantiallyrectangular, and this element may consist of a board of wood, sheet ofmetal, cardboard, paper or other ap propriate material of any desiredthickness.

On one of the entire faces of the surface element 10, or preferably onits central part isprovided a picture 11. The picture 11 may be of asingle color or of varied colors as well as being a representation of alandscape, exterior or interior view, animal, bird, one or more personsor other objects which may be portrayed singly or in groups so that thesubject matter will be attractive in appearance, besides being of aninstructive character if desired. Forms of the element 10 may beprovided having a plain black or colored ground or surface, in order toproduce silhouetted subjects by the solving or working-out the puzzle,but when the picture represents a definite subject matter in thepictorial scheme and is delineated a determined object is merged withother parts of the picture so that the configuration of the puzzleobject is concealed whereby its real formation would not be generallyrecognizable. For example, in the picture 11 is delineated a merged orobscured animal, such as a cat 12, Fig. 2, which represents a completepicture of a different a pictorial scheme from the character scheme ofthe master picture 11. However, in the master picture 11 the cat 12 isdefined in detail by portraying in a portion of the design of the vase14 the forelegs 15 of the.cat. The part of the master picture whichrepresents the carpet 16 is designed and arranged to provide a detailportrayal of the cats tail 17 as obscured in Fig. 2. Also in the masterpicture 11 is portrayed part of a portiere, as 18, which is designed sothat the cats knee 19 is delineated, while the details of the cats head20 including the ears, nose, eye and mouth are delineated in an obscuredfashion in the flowers 21 in the vase 14. In like manner other masterpictures having a large variety of interesting, or amusing orinstructive subject matters may be provided for practicing the puzzledevice.

The rectangular surface element 10 may be larger than the master picture11, and on the marginal edge ofthe surface element --may be a frame orclosure or guide, as 22.

This frame may be of wood, mat board, cardboard or other suitablematerial, as well as being of plain or ornamental design, as occasionrequires.

The interesting feature of the device which constitutes the working-outof the puzzle is provided by converting the master picture 11, Fig. 1,into another picture, as illustrated in Fig. 2, by employing a transformer or screen element, as 23. This screen element has a cut-out ormortised part 24 which is preferably in the central part of the element,and the mortise 24: is of a shape and form conforming with theconfiguration of the concealed object 12 of the master pic-- ture. Thescreen element 23 may be divided into a suitable number of complementalsections 26, which may be of various irregular shapes so that toproperly assemble the sections to form a complete screen each sectionwhich is complemental to the next adjacent sections must be selected, inorder that they may be fitted together. The irregularities of thesections may be somewhat of tongue and groove types, as at 27, and thesize of the screen element when its sections are completely assembled issuch that the screen will removably fit snugly within the closure orframe 22 of the surface element 10 so that the mortise 24 willaccurately register upon the part of the master picture 12 whereby theconcealed object in the master picture will appear clearly and indefinite form through the mortise.

Another phase of the surface element and frame idea is that both may beseparate or inseparable by having the picture printed on the spaceinside the frame. The surface element and frame combined has theadvantage of allowing free scope for differences in design, color andproportion of each frame to agree artistically with correspondingprinciples as they are found embodied in each different pictorialrepresentation.

A further, and important advantage per taining to the frame is that itserves as an enclosure tor the covering sections beyond which theycannot move, nor readily be shifted when once they are placed inposition over the picture which they only partially cover and therebytransform. And when the entire transformation is accomplished,asdis'played by Fig. 2, the novel representation, including frame, maythen be viewed in'a perpendicular attitude. This elevated view, needlessto say, almost wholly eliminates from sight the upper and side edges ofthe mortise which its previous horizontal position so plainly showed.

By thus combining two pictorial representations to appear to the eye asasingle production, there is seen in the combination an effect ofintense and vigorous delineation which no single picture could possiblypossess. Thus, to the thickness of the opening, or mortise, is due theuncommonly strong effect of the figure it reveals. Depth is given, inthis Way, producing the quality of strength which easily seems t pervadethe entire surface of the picture as the eye perceives but one pictorialharmonizing whole.

While the above transformed production, Fig. 2, is now seen in anupright position, I wish to direct attention to the novel, zigzag ortongue and groove form shown by all the united sections; and moreespecially do I wish attention respecting the vertically longitudinalinterfitting shape presented by each of the assembled mortise-producingsections, by which means all the joined parts, while elevated, rigidlymaintain their true positions with respect to the figured mortise whichthey produce. Thus the natural tendency of the assembled sections to sagthrough. gravitational influence and thereby distort the true outline ofthe figure shown by the mortise is obviated in the manner abovedescribed.

Tn specifying cardboard as the preferred material from which theinterfitting sections are made I wish here to mention also wood as asuitable substance for the purpose. A thin layer of wood could alsoserve as a suit-able material for the construction of the mortiseforming sections.

U11 the surface of this layer of wood, prior to the ultimate cutting ofsame into separate interfitting shapes, is secured plain white paper, orother suitable material to give a clear background to the representationI shown by the mortise. Again, this paper, or

figure revealed by the mortise and the picby other directions, theplayer must know in advance which interfitting section to begin with andits exact osition on the icture inside the frame. in incorrectbeginning, such as placing in either f the lower corners a coveringsection belonging in an upper diagonal corner, while it may lead to acorrect interfitting of all-the parts, will only result in showing themortise inversely p0 sitioned, and presenting, when viewed upright, agruesome and unnatural representation. wholly different to the-oneintended to be shown. This guide for starting the game aright, as wellas the simple manner of producing the transformation with fewinterfitting sections, as shown by Fig. 2, is for the purpose of makingthis puzzle game easy and interesting for children.

This novel picture-puzzle will, therefore, be seen to present amusingand interesting features for old or young people. And by a still moresimplified form of the mortise producing sections, wherein are seenfewer and larger interfitting parts than are shown by Fig. 2, thispicture-puzzle will be found to appeal to the very youngest player forwhom it provides fun without fatigue. Another and different phase ofthegame, to make it entertainingand puzzling for adults, may be shown byhaving each interfitting section much smaller in size, with,therefore,-a necessarily greater number required, to complete themortise and cover theentire surrounding portion of the picture beneath.And to add to this complex form of producing the transformation, theseveral zig-zag edges 27 describing the'interfitting of the assembledsections may show various curves and t'wists resembling parts of theoutline, or shape of the figure revealed by the mortise. Still furthercomplications for the adult player may be seen by having several of theintermediate covering sections of the screen element show acute rightangle shapes to resemble the shapes of the outermost interfittingsections.

In my puzzle device I include various puzzle-pictures which, like Fig. 1are complete and definite and give no suggestion, by distortion of theirdetails and accessories that they contain unobserved animals or otherrepresentations.

While various other puzzle-pictures might be mentioned, showing howreadily their different delineations are made to absorb the hiddenfigures they contain, it is considered that the above-named pictureswill -ters Patent, is

be sufficient to give a clear idea of the character and scope of thesepuzzle-pictures which form the basic principles of my pic torial puzzledevice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let- 1. A pictorial puzzle device, comprising a picture havingas part of its subject mat ter a determined object delineated so thatits configuration is concealed, and a separate screen element adapted tobe disposed upon the picture so that the object will be exposed 'toview, while .the other portions of the picture are hidden fromobservation.

2. A pictorial puzzle device, comprising a picture having as part of itssubject matter a determined object delineated so that its configurationis concealed, and a separate screen element adapted to be disposed uponthe picture so that the object will be ex posed to view, while the otherportions of the picture are hidden from observation, and the screenbeing divided into irregular interfitting sections whereby sectionscomplemental to the adjacent sections must be fitted to each other toassemble the-screen in complete form on the picture. 3. A pictorialpuzzle device, comprisin a picture having as part of its subject mattera determined object delineated so that its configuration is concealed,and a separate screen element adapted to 'be disposed upon the pictureso that the object will be exposed to View, while the other portions ofthe picture are hidden from observation, said screen being divided intoirregular interfitting sections whereby sections complemental to theadjacent sections must be fitted to each other to assemble the screen incomplete form on the picture, and a closure. surrounding the marginaledge of the picture for removably holding the assembled sections of thescreen element in position on the picture,

4. A pictorial puzzle device, comprising a picture having a definitelydelineated subject matter, and a transformer composed of interfittingsections of various sizes and shapes so as to require the selection ofcertain complemental sections for enabling the transformer to beassembled for covering parts of the picture whereby an entirelydifferent picture will be exposed.

*5. A pictorial puzzle device, comprising a picture having a definitelydelineated subject matter, a frame surrounding the picture, and atransformer composed of interfitting sec tions of various sizes andshapes so as to re-' quire the selection of certain complementalsections for enabling the transformer to be assembled within the framefor covering parts of the picture whereby an entirely different picturewill be exposed.

' 6. A pictorial puzzle device, comprising asurface element having apictorial representation in which is delineated an object merged withother parts of the pictorial rep resentation so that the configurationof the object is obscured, and a screen element of a size adapted tocover the pictorial representation, said screen. element having amortised part conforming to the size and shape of the obscured objectwhereby it will appear as a distinct picture through the mortise of thescreen when disposed upon the pictorial representation and the screenelement being divided intosections of irregular shapes so that sectionscomplemental to the adjacent sections must be fitted to each other toassemble the screen in complete form on the surface element.

7 A pictorial puzzle device, comprising a surface element having apictorial representation in which is delineated an object merged withother parts of the pictorial representation so that the configuration ofthe object is obscured, a screen element of a size adapted to cover thepictorial representation, said screen element having a mortised partconforming to the size and shape of the obscured object whereby it willappear as a distinct picture through the mortise of the screen whendisposed upon the pictorial representation of the screen element and thescreen element being divided into sections of irregular shapes so thatsections complemental to the adjacent sections must be fitted to eachother to assemble the screen in complete form on the surface element,and a closure on the pictorial face of the surface element, surroundingthe'picture.

8. A screen element having a mortised part conforming to theconfiguration of an object so that when the screen element is positionedupon a surface element a profile of the object will appear through themortise, and the screen element being divided into sections of irregularshapes whereby sections complemental to the adjacent sections must befitted to each other to assemble the screen in complete form on thesurface element. 5

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES J. KENNEDY.

Witnesses:

LEONARD LEWIN, FRANK J. DOELGEJR.

